Roger "RocketJock" Smithson's page

NOW I understand the source of our confusion. Whenever you say "Out-of-Control", like here :

It was because the shot was equal to or greater than his toughness which force an out-of-control piloting roll.

you are in your head thinking "Fall down".

I will stop using the phrase "Out-of-Control" if you will. ;)

Just one final thing : in my Sci-Fi Companion, walkers only roll to fall if they suffer 1 or more Wounds, but you've been saying that they roll to fall even if they are just Shaken. Why is that? There is no mention of "Out-of-Control = Fall" in the Sci-Fi Companion.

2------------Does Damage exceed Toughness? If so, make a Piloting roll or fall.

No, by the SWADE Chase rules, if Damage exceeds Toughness, make a Piloting roll or go Out-of-Control.

3------------Does Damage exceed Toughness by 4 or more? Take a wound for each 4, and roll for 1 crit per wound.

No, by the SWADE Chase rules, you roll 1 critical hit no matter how many Wounds you take. I said above "so critical hits happen on even one Wound", perhaps I should have added "or more"?

So we're back to my original Damage Aftermath (which you quoted correctly in your immediately previous posts) :
FROM SWADE : If damage exceeds the target’s Toughness (whether they take a Wound or not), the driver must make a Piloting roll or go Out of Control (2d6 roll on a table).
FROM SCI-FI : Any time his walker suffers a Wound, the pilot must make a Piloting roll. If the roll is failed, the walker falls. Walkers suffer Xd6 damage when they fall, where X is their Size.
FROM SWADE : Each Raise on a vehicular damage roll also causes a Wound and one roll (not one roll per Wound) on the Vehicle Critical Hits Table (2d6 roll on a table).

But I like your idea of a flowchart, so anytime you take Damage :

1 - Does Damage exceed Toughness? If so, make a Piloting roll or go Out-of-Control (2d6 roll on a table)
2 - Does Damage exceed Toughness by 4 or more? If so :
........Take a Wound for each 4
........Make a Piloting roll or fall down (roll for damage)
........Take one Critical Hit (2d6 roll on a table)

Piloting rolls are modified by the number of Wounds the mech *currently* has (not is about to have).

...and we're back to any time a Mech takes Wounds the pilot must make up to 5 rolls.

I was going over the NEW SW rules (the SWADE) to see how their tables figured, and I see they made a few changes to the rules.

WE ARE NOW USING THE NEW VEHICULAR RULES.

It was because the shot was equal to or greater than his toughness which force an out-of-control piloting roll.

Sorry, the above quotes must have confused me. So, we are *not* using the Out-of-Control SWADE vehicular rules? Did you mean to say "falling check Piloting roll" in the second quote? Please note, that to check for falling damage the mech must take a Wound, not just be Shaken. Your last mech to take damage was only Shaken, so no falling check needed.

...where you need a raise (2 wounds) for a critical Hit roll.

1 Raise on the Damage roll is one Wound, not two (a Success is just Shaken), so critical hits happen on even one Wound.

So, are these the correct damage aftermath rules :
FROM SCI-FI : Any time his walker suffers a Wound, the pilot must make a Piloting roll. If the roll is failed, the walker falls. Walkers suffer Xd6 damage when they fall, where X is their Size.
FROM SWADE : Each Raise on a vehicular damage roll also causes a Wound and one roll (not one roll per Wound) on the Vehicle Critical Hits Table (2d6 roll on a table).
FROM ATLAS : Each Wound reduces a mech's pilot's Piloting roll by 1.

At least that brings down the number of rolls the target must make when Wounded to 2 or 3.

Again, sorry to be so nit-picky, I just want to know what the rules are.

The "excessive" part is that the way is it right now, Wounds could cause an Out-of-Control roll, and always cause a Critical Hit roll, *AND* a chance to fall down, which can lead to even more damage being inflicted. That's a LOT of stuff that can happen every time a mech takes damage.

From a PbP mechanics POV, that's up to 5 dice rolls (Piloting, 2d6 O-of-C, 2d6 Crit Hit, Piloting, falling damage) *every* time a mech gets damaged!

Regarding your last fall in the game, if the mech was only Shaken and made an Out-of-Control piloting roll (after the fact), what was the result of the Out-of-Control roll (which we didn't see) that made him fall down? The only result that I can see that sounds reasonable is Distracted, but it doesn't explicitly say the vehicle falls down, just that something happens to the vehicle to make the *passengers* Distracted. It sounds like you're equating "Out-of-Control" to "falls down", but they're 2 different mechanics. Sorry to be so nit-picky, I'm just trying to understand the rules.

Ok, well, that didn't take long...

Shooting a laser or particle cannon :
1. Roll your Shooting die along with a d6 Wild die. Choose the larger of the two.
2. If, because of the environment or something the target is doing (such as moving, -1 per 1 square moved) creates a penalty to your roll, apply the appropriate penalties.
Calculate the range penalty (-2 for Medium, -4 for Long).
Example : the range listing on a Quad linked medium laser is 150/300/600 (Short/Medium/Long), which in squares is 15/30/60. If your target is within 15 squares of you, no penalty. Between 16 and 30 squares, -2 for Medium range. Between 31 and 60 squares, -4 for Long range.
3. Lower the total penalty by 2 points due to your built-in Targeting. If there is no penalty, Targeting has no effect.
Example : Roger shoots at the Red Baron, who last round moved 3 squares (30” or yards), and so has a -3 to be hit this round, and is currently 20 squares from Roger for a total of -5. Roger’s Targeting reduces that to a -3 to his roll.
4. If the roll is 4 or better, you hit and roll damage. If the roll is 8 or better, add another d6 to the damage roll.
Notes : a “dual linked” weapon still fires only one shot at a time, but has +1 to hit and +2 damage. A “quad linked” weapon also only fires one shot at a time, but has +2 to hit and +4 damage.

Shooting missiles :
1. Roll your Knowledge(Electronic Warfare) [“K(EW)”] die for as many times as the number of missiles you are firing plus a d6 for your Wild Die (which you can use to replace any ONE of your smaller K(EW) rolls).
2. There are no modifiers for the speed or size of the target, but do include range penalties. Targeting does not reduce missile range penalties.
3. If the roll is equal to or greater than the target’s Missile Defense Target Number (“MDTN”, which is K(EW)/2, rounded up), you may have hit, so roll damage. If the roll is 4 or more greater than the target’s MDTN, add another d6 to the damage roll.
4. The target then gets to evade the missiles by making a K(EW) roll (with a Wild die) at -4, but AMCM reduces this to -2. If the roll is 4 or better, the potential hit actually missed.

Damage aftermath :
FROM SWADE : If damage exceeds the target’s Toughness (whether they take a Wound or not), the driver must make a Piloting roll or go Out of Control (2d6 roll on a table).
FROM SCI-FI : Any time his walker suffers a Wound, the pilot must make a Piloting roll. If the roll is failed, the walker falls. Walkers suffer Xd6 damage when they fall, where X is their Size.
FROM SWADE : Each Raise on a vehicular damage roll also causes a Wound and one roll (not one roll per Wound) on the Vehicle Critical Hits Table (2d6 roll on a table) . Each Wound reduces a vehicle’s Handling by 1 (to a maximum of −4).

Atlas – the damage aftermath seems a bit mashed-up, and excessive. If a mech is even Shaken, the driver must make a Piloting roll or go Out of Control (which you have to narrate the results of). And because you’ve been using the “falling” rules from the Sci-Fi Companion, but also want to use Critical Hits from SWADE, if a mech takes a Wound, then the pilot must roll Piloting to see if he falls down (taking even MORE damage), and automatically takes a Critical Hit (which you have to narrate the results of). Do you really want ALL that to happen on every Wound?

Also, please proofread everything above carefully to make sure I got it correct, or left anything out.

Atlas - I'm still getting the hang of dealing with mechs in normal combat (never used that sub-set of the SW rules before), so it's me I'm thinking about, not the other players.

In the interim, I might try to create a document that explains :
Shooting a missile
Shooting a laser (or particle cannon)
Dealing with the damage's aftereffects

I'll post it here for you to review to make sure that it's correct.

"Sir, yes SIR! We are ready for more!"

Posting once a week is better than not at all, in my opinion. And I can take up the slack for you when someone forgets to roll a Wild die, or re-roll an Ace, etc.

I would personally like to put off the Mass Combat rules until we all have a better handle on the basic combat rules.

I'm ok without all the gory details, but perhaps so the guys new to SW can better understand it, you should keep doing it for a while?
Also, didn't you say in Discussion that you have to score a Wound on a mech for it to fall down now? Also, doesn't the falling mech get a Piloting roll to recover? Or am I missing something?

You might want to roll another d6 as your Wild die, it might hit.

"nds" is "Wounds" without the "Wou" :)
Max - you might want to re-think your build, now that missiles are much less effective, you'll want a decent Shooting skill (maybe drop K(EW) to d10, and raise Shooting to d8?). And don't forget the Wild die on your last Shooting roll!

Atlas - you might find SWADE's expanded use of Bennies of interest. In addition to the "usual" things (reroll a Trait roll, recover from Shaken, Soak), you can now spend a Benny to :

DRAW A NEW ACTION CARD: When the game is in rounds, a character can spend a Benny to get a new Action Card.
REROLL DAMAGE: You may spend a Benny to reroll damage. Include any additional dice you may have gained for a raise on the attack roll.
REGAIN POWER POINTS: A character with an Arcane Background can spend a Benny to regain 5 Power Points.
INFLUENCE THE STORY: This one is entirely up to the Game Master, who may allow your character to spend a Benny to find an additional clue if you’re stuck, come up with some mundane but needed item, or push a nonplayer character into being a bit more agreeable.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I moved 32" back and forth on my round to get a -3 to hit. I will *always* move 32" every round from now on.

Having been successful with his laser, Roger decides to continue using it :

Shooting+2(quad): 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 41d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

So, does movement affect just Shooting, or Shooting and Missiles? I see my target moved last round, so I'm assuming a net of -1, which misses. I'll let you confirm the penalties and bonuses, but if the first roll misses I'm spending a Benny...

Shooting+2(quad): 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Wild ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Wild ACE! ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Ok, this is getting silly...
Wild ACE! ACE! ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 5 = 25 I think this hits, and with a Raise...

Damage: 3d10 + 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (8, 2, 4) + (4) + 4 = 22 (AP 10)

13 hours per day *all the time*??? I hope you're getting overtime!!! :)

Take your time, I'm liking this game too much to quit just because you can't post every day.

Roger switches to his laser :

Shooting+2(quad): 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 101d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Wild ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 4 = 12, a Raise either way

Damage: 3d10 + 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (10, 7, 6) + (6) + 4 = 33
Damage & Raise ACE!: 1d10 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + (1) = 8 = 41 (AP 10)

I'm shooting at the guy on the left side of the map.

Max - as soon as you see an Aced die in one of your rolls, you should *immediately* re-roll that die one more time (before making a different roll), and add it to the result.
So when you saw (2, 1, 6, 4, 5, 4) on your first roll, you should have rolled another, single, d6 and added it to the 22.
Another option is when you Preview and see an Ace in the roll, just add that die to the original roll, so you would have changed the 6d6 to a 7d6.
And why was your last roll 7d6?

K(EW) & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 61d10 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 1

Damage: 6d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 1, 4, 5, 1) = 20
Damage ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 1 = 21 (AP 10)

Gonna try missiles this time, because there's more of them per action :

K(EW) & Wild: 1d10 ⇒ 41d10 ⇒ 71d10 ⇒ 101d10 ⇒ 81d6 ⇒ 6 = 4 hits, 2 with Raises!
Not re-rolling the d10 beacuse it's already a Raise...and I'm not going to be rolling any more d10's.

Damage: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 5, 4, 4, 3) = 23
Damage ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 4 = 27
Damage: 6d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 3, 6, 5, 5) = 23
Damage ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Damage ACE! ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 5 = 34
Damage+Raise: 6d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 4, 3, 2, 2) + (1) = 22
Damage ACE!: 1d6 ⇒ 2 = 24
Damage+Raise: 6d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 5, 5, 1, 1) + (4) = 20 = 20

AP 20 all around!

Move 32 = -3 to be hit

Atlas - in the future, in your attacks could you please refer to us by our character names, not the names of our vehicle types? Thanks!
Also, why did the Wasp have to make a Piloting roll if all he did was move and fire?

I would call a square a square, and have it equal 10 yards.

That is a GREAT idea! We will totally do that! =D

So, Atlas, will you now please re-post all our weapons' ranges in units of "squares"? Thanks!

Max's first d6 in his damage roll Aced, so he should re-roll to see if he might inflict any more Wounds.

If I understand *everything* correctly :
We are 20 squares away from our opponents, and there's 5" per square, so 100"? That's well within the Short range of 150 for my quad lasers.
I take it that "quad linked" means 4 shots per action? If not, use only my first roll (well, replace it with the Wild die roll, for 1 hit).

Shooting+2(quad): 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 31d10 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 31d10 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 31d10 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
I almost added +2 from Targeting, but then remembered it only removes penalties...

Since the TN for Shooting is 4, 2 of them hit :
Damage+quad: 3d10 + 4 ⇒ (5, 3, 9) + 4 = 21
Damage+quad: 3d10 + 4 ⇒ (10, 8, 7) + 4 = 29
Damage ACE!: 1d10 ⇒ 1 = 30

Atlas - in one note, you said that Medium lasers have AP 10, but not in others. Do my lasers have AP 10 or not?
Also, I didn't see you make any opposed K(EW) for the other player's missile shots to hit?

ZenFox reporting for duty - what kind of mech do I have for the battle in Gameplay?

Also, for Movement, for every 10 inches the target moved, there is another -1.

So, my battlefield strategy will be : every round I will fire a weapon, then move my 20+ pace as a Free Action (just side to side if needed), to give every enemy a -2 to hit me. :)